Addressing a press conference at Harvest House, the MDC-T headquarters, in Harare this morning, Tsvangirai said the appointment of Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko represented cosmetic leadership change.
The two became Mugabe’s deputies in Zanu (PF) and cabinet after the ruling party’s national congress held in December last year.
“There have been changes in the leadership of both Zanu PF and the government by the appointment of two new Vice Presidents.
“Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko were added into the cockpit of both party and government. It is simply a cosmetic change without any substantial impact on the direction of the country,” said Tsvangirai.
He said the two deputies “cannot extricate themselves from Mugabe’s ruinous and disastrous legacy” since they were “entrapped in the same policy failure that has characterised Zanu (PF) governance culture in the past 35 years.”
Tsvangirai dismissed Mnangagwa’s and other newly appointed Zanu (PF) functionaries’ claims of being reformist, saying they were unrepentant hardliners.
“There are those who are so naïve as to believe that token changes in the cockpit can lead to realignment of our politics and that those token changes can spearhead a reform agenda.
“These are leaders who were not elected but appointed to their positions. They have no mandate from the people and will simply do Mugabe’s bidding,” said Tsvangirai.
He accused Mnangagwa, Mugabe’s senior vice president, of failing to push for the implementation of the constitution adopted in 2013 when he was justice minister and leader of government business in parliament.
Hundreds of laws still need to be aligned to the new constitution, almost a year after it was adopted.
“Any leader who is keen on genuine reform would have prioritised the implementation of the people’s charter endorsed by over three (million) Zimbabweans in a referendum,” said Tsvangirai.
He added: “In the case of the acting President (Mnangagwa), he has a tainted record that Zimbabweans will never forget both in terms of his role in Gukurahundi, repression in the presidential runoff of 2008 as Minister of Defence and the electoral theft of 2013.”
More than 20, 000 people were killed in southern Zimbabwe in the eighties when government deployed soldiers, the police and intelligence operatives purportedly to flush out political dissidents.
At that time, Mnangagwa was in charge of national security while Mphoko worked under him.
Tsvangirai also called on Mugabe to leave government, saying he had been slowed down by old age and ill health.
The MDC leader bemoaned the current economic crisis and called for engagement with the international community to find solutions.
He indicated that his party would lobby for a national convergence conference bringing together political parties to rescue Zimbabwe from the current crisis.
Tsvangirai also mulled a national and global campaign to sensitise the world on the socio-economic crisis in Zimbabwe.
He revealed that his party had written to SADC to alert it on a possible implosion in the country due to the crisis.
Tsvangirai said there was need for constitutional and electoral reforms after which there must free and fair elections.
Post published in: News